Brewer and Hardy’s omnibus hearings continued to November

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, September 30, 2025

For at least the sixth time, Philip Brewer and Christina Hardy’s defense attorneys have issued motions for omnibus pre-trial hearing continuances since the defendants pleaded not guilty in the homicide of Mercer Island resident Curtis Engeland in March of 2024.

Their latest hearings were scheduled for Sept. 25 in King County Superior Court in Seattle and the judge allowed them to now be set for Nov. 6 (Hardy) and Nov. 16 (Brewer), according to court documents. Their trial dates are now scheduled for Dec. 18.

According to Casey McNerthney, director of communications of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, reasons for continuances include the scheduling of witness interviews, witness availability at trial, the ongoing discovery process, processing test results from the State Patrol crime lab and more.

Prosecuting attorney Leesa Manion charged the defendants of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree identify theft and first-degree theft charges. Court documents state that Engeland, 74, was killed on or about Feb. 24, 2024, and his body was recovered on March 7 of that year in the Grays Harbor County city of Cosmopolis.

SHETTY TRIAL

Due to the defense counsel’s scheduling conflicts, the judge approved a motion at a Sept. 22 hearing to move Mercer Islander Nevin Shetty’s trial to Oct. 24.

In 2023, Shetty pleaded not guilty to alleged embezzlement activities. He was indicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle for secretly transferring $35 million from his company’s account to invest in his own cryptocurrency operation. Shetty has filed several motions relating to the case, including one to suppress evidence and others to dismiss the indictment and continue the trial date.

The trial is slated to occur in front of judge Tana Lin at the United States District Courthouse in Seattle.